


Terms and Conditions Subject to Change without Notice

by qwerty



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Animal Transformation, Community: kinkme_merlin, M/M, Spring Fever Challenge, gossipy dudes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-10
Updated: 2011-04-10
Packaged: 2017-10-17 21:37:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/181410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/qwerty/pseuds/qwerty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin discovers a few things when Arthur is accidentally transformed into a dragon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Terms and Conditions Subject to Change without Notice

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the kinkmeme prompt: Arthur's knights are ridiculously protective of their prince. When they see how Arthur feels about Merlin, they decide to vet Merlin and determine his intentions.

"A logical explanation for this. Conservation of mass, utter bullshit. The Boss sat on me and there's no fucking way he massed that much before." The voice was low and rasping, growl-like, tinnily warped through the comm module in the corner where Merlin had kicked it to prevent its being crushed by accident.

Arthur raised his head from Merlin's lap and hissed angrily, scenting the air, ready to attack the source of the threatening sounds again.

Merlin grabbed his head to recapture his attention and stroked behind his ear until he grunted, allowing himself to be soothed, and laid his head back down. Merlin sighed, flexing his toes to try to regain circulation in his numb legs. Even as a half-grown dragon and resting only his head on Merlin's lap, body coiled possessively around Merlin, Arthur was heavy.

The voices continued their discussion, blithely oblivious to Arthur's unthinking, nervous reactions and the danger that whatever had made him register Merlin as something to be protected might not continue to protect him.

"Always thought the old Captain was full of it, him and his crusade against magic," said a grumpy voice Merlin couldn't place at first, then he remembered that Gregory was the one Arthur had jumped on, after he'd broken free from the mysterious alien trap device they'd been studying and charged into the waiting landing ship, so the grumpy one had to be Robert, who normally sounded much more patient and kind and was usually assigned to the nursemaid and bodyguard roles. "No such thing as magic, ma said. I don't think I can ever trust anything she says again."

"Has Gaius managed to find anything yet?" Merlin called, more to remind them that he and Arthur were still penned up and waiting behind the quarantine barrier than because he expected a reply already.

There was a pause, and quiet mutterings as Arthur's men conferred quietly with the communications bridge, which Gaius had commandeered to talk directly to the orbital research centre. "Doc says the Dragon still has him on call-waiting," Cador called back brightly, and someone snorted and was quickly muffled.

The murmurs continued, but lower, conscious of Merlin and Arthur listening. Arthur seemed content to rumble and push his head against Merlin's hand. Merlin kept petting him absently while he reached out with his mind and tapped into the security systems to listen in on what they had to say.

"What are they doing now? I can't bring myself to watch, all that cuddling and petting and rubbing, brrr," said another unknown voice, and Merlin nervously wondered how he and Arthur looked to Arthur's men waiting outside. Responding to his tension, Arthur almost started to raise his head again. Merlin scratched his head harder, and his eyes slid shut again, tail lashing blissfully.

At least, before he could make himself fret worse, the knight was answered by the calm tones of Arthur's lieutenant, Leon, "Nothing, you kinky bastard. Same as right after we got out and Merlin managed to settle him. Keep an eye on them and wait for Doctor Gaius's response. I'm going to check the ship, see if the Captain managed to break anything critical while on his rampage."

The men were silent while he left, then picked up again where they had stopped, undeterred.

"I guess this is proof. Looks like the Boss really is into the beanpole. Research assistant, my arse. Researching the Boss's arse, more like. Boss could do better," the voice that had wondered about him and Arthur muttered, sounding really disgruntled. Arthur licked Merlin's hand with a surprisingly light flick of his tongue, and Merlin winced. Arthur was into him? Could do better? Merlin could have done without hearing these -- the false hope of Arthur's liking him, and that he was unworthy of Arthur's interest. He regretted listening in on them a little.

Robert laughed dourly. "Proof?" he said, and Merlin nodded along in agreement: _Yes, Robert, tell him he's being ridiculous._ Arthur was currently trapped in dragon form and by no means behaving like himself. Completely preposterous idea. "You're saying you missed all the territorial marking, threat displays and courtship dances? I mean, when Merlin was first assigned to our team a year ago?"

 _What._

"What?" the other voice echoed, and someone got smacked loudly while the soothing hum and beeps of ship machinery ran on in the background, and someone (the ship said Cador) was hitting command keys a little harder than necessary.

"Blind and deaf and dumb, and not in the ways that you can fix with implants," said Robert, sounding no more pleased than before. "As completely undiplomatic and useless choices go, Merlin's all right. Loyal to a fault, if nothing else. Remember the assassin from Mora, and that thing on Fyrien with the wyverns. Tossed himself between them and Boss both times."

Merlin remembered those times as well, but he hadn't realised he was being watched and weighed. Mora had been the day he had been assigned to follow Arthur as Gaius's assistant. If they'd been observing him from that long ago, just how much did they know? He hadn't been too careful, right from the start, as Gaius kept reminding him.

Arthur opened one eye and glared at him when he flexed his tingling legs again under the ungrateful beast's head. "Shut it, stupid. I'll still need my legs after you change back," he told Arthur, trying to will certainty that Arthur's little problem would be resolved, and quickly, into himself. The dragon Arthur was wilful and instinct-driven, and so far, demonstrably dangerous to everyone except for Merlin. If he couldn't be changed back, they'd have to find somewhere to lock him up for... as long as it took.

The one who didn't approve of Merlin -- Geraint, it was, Merlin decided, who had tossed him in the brig a couple of times for arguing with Arthur, snorted, unsatisfied with Robert's approval. "Fine, he's a loyal puppy, but it's not like Boss shags people for being loyal, or we'll all be happy men. Question is, is he _worth_ the bother of shagging?"

Someone smacked him, again. "Show a little respect," rasped Gregory. "He jumped in to pull me out from under Boss before we knew Boss's tiny lizard brain had managed to keep a soft spot for him."

Gregory's defence of him warmed Merlin. "Hear that, you tiny lizard brain?" Merlin teased, daring to poke the sleeping dragon in the side, but not too hard.

Then Gregory continued, "Besides, that time we all fell into the bog of eternal stench, we had to get hosed down together and I looked. He's not hard on the eyes, at all." This warmed Merlin in a completely different way. He wondered if his embarrassed flush was discernable from the security feed, and if anyone was still paying attention. Arthur tilted his head up and flicked his tongue at Merlin's face, leaving cool, tingling trails of spit.

"Stop that, you're disgusting, Arthur," he said, trying to wave Arthur's tongue from his face, thinking of what the team might have to say about this if they saw.

"Respect, you said," Cador put in firmly. "You don't talk about a good man like that."

"I do talk about good-looking men like that," growled Gregory. "Anyway, Boss saw me looking and kicked my arse in training later, so you can say I've received my comeuppance or whatever you like."

In case the team decided to add in yet more embarrassing commentary, Merlin interrupted them again. "Any word from Gaius? Arthur's getting a bit restless." To help emphasise his point, Arthur started nosing his face and neck, tongue flickering, and he had to shove his head away, rather forcefully.

This time Cador actually paused to quietly argue in what sounded like incredulous tones with Gaius, their voices too low for even Merlin's security tap to pick up.

"Hello?" Merlin called once more. "What's taking so long? Can I talk to Gaius directly?"

Cador fiddled with the controls, and Gaius's whispery voice came through the comm. The dual feedback from security and the comm made him a little dizzy, and he decided to shut off his access to security for the time being. "Not going to do you any good, I'm afraid. Is the Dragon always this fond of cryptic patter and koans?"

"Yes," Merlin said, and slapped Arthur's nose. Arthur made a high, chirruping growl that sounded like it came from a much smaller, less dangerous creature than he actually was. "What's he saying? Also, can we give Arthur something to eat?"

"It would be complicated," Gaius said with a distinct lack of sympathy. "If you gave him something suitable for humans, even if he was interested, it might not suit his new digestive system. If you give him something for dragons, it might upset his stomach when he changes back."

Arthur set up a wail of protest or anger when Merlin smacked his nose again, and began to stalk in circles around Merlin. "I'm glad you sound so confident that he's going to change back any moment now," Merlin said, and added without thinking. "He might just decide to eat me instead."

Geraint brayed out loud at that, and Merlin flushed again, lowering his head. Arthur began to growl at the comm. "That would definitely upset Boss, when he changes back," Robert said smoothly.

The men fell silent, and Merlin guessed that Gaius was probably regarding them all with that disapproving look he did so well. Arthur took to nudging his hand again, probably wanting to be petted, and Merlin obliged him. The dragon rolled over and purred ecstatically. Arthur's team were never going to let him live this down, and he would probably never forgive Merlin for this. Merlin scratched his scaly belly harder, in pre-emptive revenge.

"Kinky," Leon said.

"Remember that Gwen told me about that time you two sneaked out of Camelot together, in return for that trick you pulled with the singing hologram on her birthday," Merlin warned him, by now enthusiastically scrubbing Arthur's belly as Arthur stretched out, crooning with pleasure, and Leon fell silent immediately.

Gaius cleared his throat in the flurry of whispers directed at Leon, and said, "The Dragon is talking about traditional cures for magical enchantments. Hold on while I try to prod something useful out of it."

The comm fell silent and Arthur calmed. Merlin tapped in again.

"You knew him from before, you sly dog," Geraint was saying.

"Friend of a friend," Leon demurred. "But my friend trusts him implicitly."

"Is he going to hurt Boss?" Geraint again, prodding rather insistently. But it was Cador who answered him.

"I gave him a cupcake once, for his birthday," Cador said, very quietly. "Made with real marzipan and eggs. It was pretty expensive. He gave it to Boss." Cador and Geraint both sighed.

"Stupid boys," Robert muttered. "It's not like you have any say if Boss likes him and he likes Boss." Cador and Geraint sighed again.

"Speaking of food, I'm hungry too," said Gregory, voice a lot clearer.

"I've got it," Gaius said loudly, his voice resonating oddly in Merlin's ears and head at once like the Dragon's did. "Do you remember Lord Olaf and his daughter?"

Merlin went blank for a moment, then made the connections and got back his voice. "What? Gwen took the transfer to the Malory last month to be with Lance. You know that!"

"There are many different kinds of love, young Merlin," Gaius said, sounding far more amused than he normally did.

Arthur's team went, "Ooooh. _Love_ ," in mocking unison. The unholy chorus of voices made Arthur roll over and sit up alertly, head tilted with interest as he stared at Merlin, as though he understood something important was about to happen.

"What are you even talking about?" Merlin demanded, about to start pulling his own hair while Arthur looked on fascinated. "Oh, don't say it," he cut in when Gaius began to laugh the Dragon's laugh. "I'll do it, but I'm going on record as saying this is an incredibly stupid idea," he said, and kissed Arthur on the nose with a light peck--

\--that sucked all the power out of him like a black hole and dropped him to his knees. "Uh," he said, when white spots stopped swimming in front of his eyes, and he found a human Arthur holding him up by the arms and looking deeply offended.

"Kissing me is an incredibly stupid idea?" said human Arthur. Arthur's men started jeering and booing over the comm.

"Boss is a shitty kisser!" Cador sang out, his voice clear as a bell.

"You shitheads are going to pay for this later, once I get this barricade open," Arthur threatened, and turned back to Merlin. "You want to try that again, properly?"

"Um," Merlin said, wavering, then shrugged. "Fine, why not?"

As it turned out, while Arthur wasn't exactly an _amazingly great_ kisser, he wasn't bad either, much less shitty.


End file.
